Public Comment on District Maps
Retrieved October 9, 2023 at 10:16 a.m.
District Elections Map Selection CC Mtg 10/10/23 AI 5.1
Good afternoon. My name is Susan Sayre and I am an Irvine resident.
I support increasing the size of our City Council to 7 members, though for a city that soon will be over 360,000 residents, I would prefer a 9 member city council.
I support district elections primarily due to the fact that running for City Council in political at large elections for a city of our size is expensive and thus candidates come to depend on special interest, business, and PAC endorsements and support which create obligations for candidates, if elected, to represent their interests. District candidates will be known in the district communities and thus candidates will rely less on special interest endorsements and support.
I support district maps 151 and 148 as I support district elections where the districts consist of adjoining older villages or adjoining newer villages. Older Irvine village communities were created to contain unique characteristics and amenities with their own schools and commercial centers and thus definitely had a sense of community. Unfortunately, this is not true with regards to the newer villages. Newer villages have their own issues which include the lack of community commercial centers and the lack of locally located schools. Keeping adjoining older villages together in the same district is more important to me than the issue of whether or not the district crosses freeways or major streets.
Furthermore, as it is your duty to select the map that best represents the interests of Irvine residents, NOT your interests, the impact that the district map has on your political future must not be the basis for your selection of the district map that will be on Irvine’s ballot.